28 August 2011

My machine and I

You who read this blog on a regular basis will know that I like hand-work.
Any kind of hand-work really.
With a preference for what my freind Diane in NY calls 'DLS' (Dinky Little Sh ... Stuff).
BUT, I do have a sewing-machine. As a matter of fact, I have 3. I have a hand-crank, that DH salvaged from a dump, took home, gave some TLC and now it purrs on like nobody's business.
Then there is the Viking / Husquarna. It was top-of-the-line 22 years ago, it isn't anymore, but it still goes strong.
Finally, there is the tiny Janome, which is what I tend to use mostly. It is small, doesn't have a zillion different stitches, but it works.
... most of the time.

Now. I like my machines well enough. Yes. All of them. And in broad general, they are not too averse to me. We're not like BFF, or intimate in any way (remember my hand-work preference), but ... generally we can work together well enough.
And then, one day, we couldn't.
The little one just stopped. Wouldn't budge.
And, after some work, I understood perfectly why :

Exhibit A (on your right) shows the compact used-to-be-fluff I picked out of the spool-house. Using tweezers. It was stuck fast and really hard.
There is nothing fluffy about it. The spool is there to show just how much there actually was.

After I had carefully lifted all of that from the spool-house, I 'stole' DHs canned air, and gave it a good blow-through as well.
And now the little Janome purrs on again, and harmony has been re-established in the little home.

The moral of the story :
Clean your machine.
If you are on intimate terms with yours, you probably know already, and don't need my reminder, if you are more like me, and not all that close with your machine, now would - probably - be a good time to get out the tweezers, the canned air, a bit of patience, and get the fluff out of the spool-house :-)